You’ve seen enough lists of the “hottest startup cities” at this point. Thankfully, this isn’t another one.

According to research by the US Chamber of Commerce, presented by their Free Enterprise blog, seven cities have improved the most as tech-friendly cities. Officially, they looked at “how well-poised [cities] are to leverage capital into successful tech industries.”

7.) Pittsburgh, PA rounds out the list with an improvement of two spots. Pittsburgh’s access to engineering talent is its biggest strength in these rankings. Other pluses include “small business-friendly tax incentives and an increasing number of software, biotech and artificial intelligence startups.”

6.) Portland, OR rose two spots from last year’s ranking, thanks in part to a “five-year high” in venture capital funding. Other positive signs include an increased startup density and an improve startup culture, as well as increased access to talent.

5.) Seattle, WA is the highest-ranking “legacy tech” city on the list, rising three spots from past year’s rankings. While Seattle experience “significant losses in industry and culture,” they made up for it by drawing in more startups, talent and capital. As a result, the availability of all three is plentiful in this rainy city.

4.) Philadelphia, PA received a nice capital injection from “city leaders,” improving access to capital and cultural acceptance. Government leaders have achieved this by establishing alliances between the public sector and private corporations. As a bonus, the city’s lenient regulatory environment is a boon for new business.

3.) New Orleans, LA jumped six spots. Given the gap between third and first/second place, it’s a huge testament to the work by Dallas and Atlanta. New Orleans ranked well for local support, “[outshining] other startup enclaves on measures of access to civic institutions and corprorations, and startup partnerships as well.”

2.) Dallas, TX, much like Atlanta, worked to foster relations between the city’s large palate of legacy corporations and local startups. As a result, they jumped twelve places this year to 7th place. The rise of the city’s profile as a whole, more tech talent is moving in, which also boosts the city’s profile.

1.) Atlanta, GA improved 15 spots from last year, making it “the biggest mover” on the list, jumping from 21st place to 6th place. According to Free Enterprise, significant improvement in “network connectivity, access to talent, industry specialization and startup culture” caused the leap. The improvement in connectivity and culture may be due to the work of Invest Atlanta, an organization working to “bridge the gap between startups and the broader business community.”

Community matters a lot. There’s a consistent trend of public/private section collaboration making a difference. It’s a major factor in the two cities who made the biggest strides, but you can also see the trends across most cities on this list. That relationship goes a long way to removing barriers to startup excellent and cultivating a culture that encourages new business.

Talent can also show up in unlikely places. I wouldn’t have expected Pittsburgh to be on this list until I looked at schools in the area. Universities can be a catalyst for building and retaining critical tech talent.

Born in Boston and raised in California, Connor arrived in Texas for college and was (lovingly) ensnared by southern hospitality and copious helpings of queso. As an SEO professional, he lives and breathes online marketing and its impact on businesses. His loves include disc-related sports, a pint of a top-notch craft beer, historical non-fiction novels, and Austin's live music scene.

Entrepreneurialism is wildly rewarding – you are fully in control of the direction of your company, and you’re solving the world’s problems. But it’s also isolating when you’re not sure if what you’re experiencing is normal.

Sure, there’s Google, news networks (like ours), and professional connections to help you navigate, but sometimes you just want to know if something simple you’re seeing is normal.

Is Instagram Stories really where it’s at? Probably not if you’re a consultant.

Is it normal for an employee to attempt to re-negotiate their salary on their first day? Nope, but how do you keep the desirable employee without being bullied into new terms?

Do all entrepreneurs spend their first year in business as exhausted as a new parent? Sometimes.

You have questions, and together, we can share our experiences.

We have a brand new Facebook Group that is already wildly engaging, active, and you’d be amazed at how selflessly helpful people are – and we invite you to be one of them.

Want to anonymously ask a question about something you’re unsure is normal or not?

In March, Amazon stopped replenishing weekly purchase orders for tens of thousands of vendors in a move that has stirred up some trouble. The tech giant has once flexed its power over first-party sellers over their platform. And it’s not the first time.

Amazon originally sent out to vendors as an automated message citing the hold up in orders as a technical glitch. The following day, vendors were told the change was permanent. The affected vendors were categorized as making $10 million or less in sales volume per year and not having managers at Amazon. Vendors selling specialized goods that were difficult to ship were also a factor.

The effects can have remarkable effects on the market as Amazon’s algorithms decide who is able to sell what to whom via their near-ubiquitous platform. According to John Ghiorso, the CEO of Orca Pacific, an Amazon agency for consultation and manufacturers representatives, the decision is driven by financial data such as total revenue, profitability, and catalog size.

In a response from an Amazon spokesperson, the change was made in order to improve value, convenience, and selection for customers. The mass termination of purchase orders and the delayed response from Amazon herald the transition to the One Vendor system, putting vendors in an exclusive relationship with Amazon. This system will merge the current Seller Central and Vendor Central.

Amazon’s message is loud and clear: they will do what’s in their best interest to mitigate the market for their convenience. One may be reminded of the anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft in 2001.

The lack of warning didn’t do them any favors either.

While smaller businesses need to change for Amazon’s program, first-party business will revolve around larger brands like Nike with whom Amazon is maintaining a relationship.

Despite the streamlined platform Amazon is going for, the company wields power over vendors and customers alike. Capitalism is one thing, but monopolies are a whole other ball game, and politicians are finally paying attention.

Culture Codes is the guide you need for company culture questions

(BUSINESS ENTREPRENEUR) One of the biggest sellers of a company to a prospective employee or customer is their culture. Culture Codes has compiled some the biggest companies cultures in convenient decks for you to study and align with.

Organizational culture is a hot button of conversation. While a variety of definitions exist, one way of defining Culture is the way businesses exist – a summary of values, rituals, and organizational mythology that helps employees make sense of the organization they work in.

Organizational cultures are often reflected in Mission, Vision, and Value statements of organizations.

What many entrepreneurs or new organization struggle with as well, is how to create a culture from the ground up. What kinds of statements and values do they advocate? What are areas of focus? Who are our competitors and what can we do to create a service, product, or quality advantage?

Building a strong culture can be challenging, but a good place to start is looking at the best cultures around.

A new resource by Tettra, Culture Codes, has everything you could want to know on different companies their cultures available for you to study up.

Over 40 companies employing over 280,000 employees have created culture decks and collected core values and mission statements. Companies like Spotify, Netflix, LinkedIn, and NASA have all contributed information.

This information is great for young companies or entrepreneurs to start building a schema about what kind of culture they want to create.

Or existing established companies can look towards peers and competitors and help decide what statements they want to engage culture change on.

For job seekers, Tettra can help potential employees gauge if they are a fit for an organization, or discover that maybe an organization they dream about working for has a culture they may not jive with. And perhaps most valuably, transparently showing off your culture and allowing it to be compared means that organizations can better compete in the talent market.

Recruiters should be obsessed with talking about culture – because it keeps people in the door.

The reasons why people leave employment: work/ life balance, poor treatment, lack of training, or relationship issues with a supervisor or boss; in many ways are a by-product of organizational culture. If you want to compete in the talent market, make culture a selling point and show it off in everything you do.

Even consumer’s benefit from learning about an organization’s culture – values that indicate a commitment to excellence in ethics make consumers feel good about supporting an organization.

It pays to have a good culture. I encourage you to head over to tetra.co/culture-codes and see how companies like Etsy are keeping it real, every day.